CRANSTON — Should “Buddy” be treated as a celebrity when he is released from prison?

That was one of the more provocative questions that ricocheted around the room yesterday at an Operation Clean Government panel discussion on corruption in Rhode Island.

Former Providence Mayor Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci Jr. should be treated just like any other convict emerging from prison, and not as a celebrity, said U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente, a panelist.

“I don’t think there’s anything to celebrate,” Corrente said of Providence’s longest serving mayor, who is generally credited with leading a revival of Rhode Island’s dispirited capital city as well as being discredited for his misconduct and reputed shortcomings of character. Cianci was convicted of running city government as a criminal enterprise in the federal investigation called Operation Plunder Dome and was ousted from office.

Corrente was one of five panelists gathered before an audience of 240 in the Shriners Imperial Room in Pawtuxet Village to discuss the topic “Rhode Island Corruption … Can It Be Stopped?”

The other panelists were Mayor David N. Cicilline, Cianci’s successor; Arlene Violet, former state attorney general and radio talk-show host; Mike Stanton, Providence Journal investigative reporter and author of The Prince of Providence, a book that chronicles the Cianci administration; and Jim Hummel, ABC6 News chief reporter.

Cianci is expected to be released from federal prison in New Jersey on May 30 and then to spend some time in a halfway house and in home confinement before his full sentence is completed July 28.

Cianci “will be celebrated by some and shunned by others” on his return, Cicilline said.

Violet mentioned filmmaker Cherry Arnold, who made a documentary on Cianci and who wrote a commentary published in yesterday’s Journal that described, as Violet put it, “the good Buddy” and “the bad Buddy.” Drawing attention to someone’s positive aspects should not be cause to gloss over his misdeeds, Violet said.

“Judging from the reception in this room,” Stanton said, “I don’t think he’s going to be universally welcomed.

“He’s going to be welcomed by some who love him for his personal charisma, who forgive his trespasses. … And there are others who are going to shun him.”

Stanton recalled having recently interviewed WPRO radio station manager Paul Giammarco, who said the station would like to hire the former mayor as a talkshow host. But when Journal political columnist M. Charles Bakst later called WPRO about the same issue, a station representative would not talk about Cianci.

Stanton speculated that a news article that he wrote, based in part on the Giammarco interview, was a factor in WPRO’s subsequent reticence.

“I think it’s because they got some nasty reaction to” the possible hiring of Cianci, Stanton said.

The marketplace will help to determine Cianci’s celebrity status, Stanton added.

“If he gets good ratings, then he’s going to get a show,” Stanton said. “If he doesn’t, then he won’t.”

Hummel recalled that his employer hired Cianci as an on-air political commentator for primary election night in September 2002, four days after Cianci was sentenced and while an appeal was pending.

It was “very controversial,” Hummel said. “A lot of people were outraged by that. … You know what? It was the highest ratings that we ever had.”

Hummel added, to appreciative laughter from the audience, “In some ways, it’s been nice to be Buddy-free for four and a half years. [But] on some days, when I’m sitting in the office and it’s really, really slow, I miss those [Cianci] press conferences. You always came out with some type of material.”

gsmith@projo.com